Ten Ways To Build Local Blogosphere
Trying to gather up the links, notes, key points that were said. Notes from live bloggers Rebecca's Notes During Session http://cyber.law.harvard.edu:8080/globalvoices/wiki/index.php/Notes_from_2:30_session Dina Mehta's live blog: http://radio.weblogs.com/0121664/2005/12/10.html#a748 ---- Details Ory from Kenya: http://flickr.com/photos/georgiap/72060336/in/set-1548585/ http://www.kenyanpundit.com/ - support new bloggers by linking to them, commenting on new blogs. this is important to helping to build a blogosphere. - create a home like a weblog ring, create a space for the community to be gathered - set up guides and instructions on how to blog - virtual communication amongst the bloggers (IM, chat, email, etc) helps to create community and forge relationships) Ory in email said: "As I mentioned at the conference, I think developing a sense of community has been a critical aspect behind the growth of the Kenyan blogosphere. I'm sending the link to our "home" in case anyone is looking for ideas on how to encourage blogging in a region/country. http://www.kenyaunlimited.com/ Roba from Jordan: - Jordanplanet. forms a community, and they have monthly meetings. - outreach and training to teach young people how to blog in schools, etc. holding seminars. - how blogs react to a "breaking story" like the bombing: spontaneous and honest, heartfelt reactions. creation of "virtual newsroom" monitoring the media across several countries. screenshots of tv coverage, translating captions etc. shows how a blogosphere can react to a sudden tragic event - diaspora linkage: 50% jordanian bloggers don't live in jordan ThaRum from Cambodia: - local media writing about bloggers helped publicize and caused a lot of people to start blogs. - blogger meetings. (mainly foreigners) - most blogging in english. some starting to blog in Khmer language. but there's problem with input system and fonts. Neha from India: - most people on blogspot.com - tsunami led a lot of people into blogging. - indian blogosphere is so big that it doesnt look outwards as much - community sites like desipundit.com - passion around certain issues inspires people to start blogging. - competition with the pakistani blogosphere - crisis & controversy drives upsurge in blogging - popularity contests Enda from Indonesia: sees 2 steps: 1. get more people to blog. need to teach them and coach people. give more information about how-to 2. bloggers should have more awareness about their surroundings, not just personal lives different generations of bloggers: personal, tech, and now media. growing into a media watchdog. Iriya from Venezuela: - starting out in tech, then moving onward to broader subjects. now more political, social issues, more debate, etc. more focused on quality of conversation, etc. - frustration that nobody listens. expectations are really high that people will get quoted widely and that they will have a big impact. Hoder on building a blogosphere: - credibility is a very important issue. looked for prominent journalists to blog (have more influence than writers and have greater potential to be bloggers). getting "big name bloggers" to blog - somebody needs to maintain a list of every blogger. this is especially important for new-comers. it encourages them. Examples: Kurdistanblogcount http://kurdistanblogcount.wordpress.com/ Iraqblogcount http://iraqblogcount.blogspot.com/ - very much like gardening. you plant a seed and then you have to take care of it. - in some communities, if there is no value placed on self-expression and the individual, it may still not work. so there are some cultures more conducive to blogging. Sokari on the problems: - in Nigeria, no community. just group of individuals. there's need for a community but culutrally it's difficult. politically different, much more diverse ethnically, etc. which makes it harder to form community. - need to build upon kenyan example but may be difficult given cultural difference Could poeple who didn't attend add their thoughts here ? In Egypt: - Since not all new bloggers know what an RSS or Atom feeds are. Creating a local aggregator has been very useful and became very popular. - It is very important for the aggregator to be as open to any difference as possible. Zero censorship at all. Not a single blogger was removed from the aggregator and not a post was unpublished or deleted. - Using services like technorati and google blog search to find more bloggers and add them to the blog list and aggregator. This helped discover some really good bloggers. When discovered, more people started leaving comments, which might encouraged them to continue blogging and feel there is an audience.